Previous studies indicate that, together with the consolidation of the neoliberal
economic model, a similar discourse has been strengthened in Peru that proposes the
possibility of a subject capable of progress and success, solely through his individual
abilities and efforts, leaving aside the state and social organization. In this context, the
present research aims at analyzing analyze, since the viewpoint of critical social
psychology, the progreso discourse in the cases of four families who migrated to Lima
looking for a better higher education for their children. It is also intended to discuss the
role of psychological knowledge in the formation of these discourses that would lead to
certain subjective positions. For this purpose, discussion groups were held with the
families, in order to obtain the texts that served as input for a later foucaultian discourse.
The analysis gives an account of a series of discursive elements that legitimize an anticonformist
and expectant subject who seeks to develop himself in different spheres of
daily life, as well as a family ethic that demands a constant improvement. In this
discourse, psychological knowledge would find its space making possible a
transformative and growing understanding of the subject, who, through his experiences,
is acquiring new social and individual skills that materialize personal development.
Finally, the progreso discourse would consist of the achievement of goals valued in the
labor market, as well as subjective individual growth, which would allow the subjects to
maintain the expectation of obtaining greater freedoms in the future.